No deal with terrorists, vows Putin

Russian forces on Monday launched a special operation in Chechnya and claimed to have killed 30 separatist fighters, according to military officials quoted by the Interfax news agency.

‘Russia paying price for weakness against terrorist threats’

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said here on Monday that Russia was paying a heavy price for its ‘‘weakness and inconsistent actions’’ in its fight against international terrorism. ‘‘The tragic events in Moscow are over, but there are still plenty of problems. We are paying a heavy price for the state’s weakness and inconsistent actions,’’ Putin said while addressing his Cabinet, in the Kremlin on Monday. The meeting, the first after the hostage crisis, observed a minute of silence in memory of the hostages who died in the storming of the theatre by the special forces last Saturday. Putin said keeping in view the ‘‘mounting threat of international terrorism in applying means comparable to weapons of mass destruction, the general staff will be instructed today to change the plans for using the armed forces.’’ ‘‘International terrorism is increasingly impudent and cruel. Threats to use means comparable to weapons of mass destruction are being made in various places of the world,’’ he said. Story continues below this ad ‘‘If anyone tries to apply such means to our country, Russia will reply with measures adequate to the threats in all the locations of the terrorists, their organizations or their ideological and financial instigators,’’ Putin noted. He also asked government members to make proposals on the basis of the analysis of the recent situation in Moscow. ‘‘The proposals should be targeted to prevent the possibility of new terrorist acts and to minimize the consequences of the hostage situation,’’ he said. (Dadan Upadhyay)

‘‘Up to 30 rebels have been killed during a special operation near Tsentoroy,’’ a village east of Chechen capital Grozny, Interfax quoted an official from Russian forces headquarters in Chechnya as saying. The Russian air force has also carried out raids in the region, the official added.

Putin vowed on Monday that Russia would make no deals with terrorists. ‘‘Russia will make no deals with terrorists and will not give in to any blackmail,’’ Russian news agencies quoted Putin as telling government ministers.

The Russian operation comes immediately after 117 hostages died in a Moscow theatre where Chechen rebels had held 750 people captive for 58 hours. Even as the special operation got underway, an envoy of Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov said Chechnya was prepared to hold unconditional talks with Russia to find a political solution to the bloody conflict in Chechnya.

‘‘We can only solve it politically,’’ Akhmed Zakayev, Deputy Prime minister of Chechnya, told the World Chechen Congress, which opened in Copenhagen despite Russian protests. ‘‘President Maskhadov, as before, is ready without any preconditions to sit at the negotiation table. It is up to the Russian leadership,’’ he said.

EU President Denmark said it had decided to move the venue of a November EU-Russia summit from Copenhagen to Brussels after Russian President Vladimir Putin had threatened to pull out to protest against Denmark’s hosting of the Chechen meeting. ‘‘These are old Soviet methods. It is a kind of political hostage-taking of a totally peaceful meeting,’’ said Flemming Larsen, chairman of a Danish support committee for Chechnya which is hosting the two-day Congress.

‘‘Maybe this meeting will show that Putin’s claims that all Chechens are terrorists are false. Maybe that is what Putin is afraid of,’’ Larsen said. Meanwhile, incensed over the timing of an international conference on Chechnya, the Kremlin accused the Danish authorities of ‘‘solidarity with terrorists’’ and threatened to boycott the November meeting.

Copenhagen’s decision marks ‘‘a lack of respect to the memory of those who died following the terrorist act in Moscow’’ and ‘‘a sign of moral support for the terrorists,’’ Russian Federation Minister Vladimir Zorin told the Itar-Tass news agency.

The move by Denmark to go ahead with the conference today and tomorrow ‘‘weakens the international anti-terrorist front,’’ Zorin added. Moscow has repeatedly insisted that Chechen separatist have links to international terrorism, including Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network.

Refuting Russia’s claims, chairman of the Chechen Congress Deni Teps said the Chechen government had no links with terrorists. ‘‘The position of the Chechen government is that no talks with terrorists should be possible.’’